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Card Terminal or Cash Machine Not Responding

Symptoms that all point the same way:

  • The payment request never reaches the terminal
  • The cash machine does not react
  • The payment stays pending, or nothing happens at all after choosing a payment method
  • Card payment failed or Cash machine payment failed appears on the tablet

1. Check the Network — Almost Always This

Payment devices are reached over the network, the same way printers are. The tablet and the payment device must be on the same network, or the request has nowhere to go.

Check, in this order:

  • Which Wi-Fi network is the tablet on?
  • Is the terminal or cash machine on that same network?
  • If the device is wired, is its Ethernet cable seated?
  • Does the device show an active connection on its own screen?

Warning

A tablet that has drifted onto a guest or mobile network looks completely normal. Orders still work, because they go to the internet. Only the things on the local network — printers, terminals, cash machines — stop.

2. Check the Device Is Awake

  • Powered on, not in standby or sleep
  • Power and network cables connected
  • Not showing an error or a pending transaction from earlier

Restart the payment device if it is unresponsive. This is safe: a payment that never started cannot be lost by restarting the terminal.

3. Check the Device Is Still Configured

If the network is fine and the device is awake, confirm the setup has not changed:

  • For a terminal addressed directly, the Terminal IP Address on the user account in the Admin Panel
  • For CTEP, CCV and LoyalTek, the entry on the Integrations page, pointing at the right user
  • For a cash machine, its integration, likewise

A device that was moved, re-cabled or re-addressed by the network will keep the old address in the Panel and silently stop being reachable.

What a Failed Payment Does Not Do

Note

A payment failure does not cancel or remove the order. The items stay on the account exactly as they were.

You can take the money another way while you sort the device out — record it as cash, or use a second terminal — and the account closes normally.

Summary

  • Network mismatch is the most common cause by a wide margin
  • Payment devices live on the local network; internet access alone is not enough
  • A failed payment leaves the order intact
  • Fall back to another payment method rather than holding up the customer